Red Hat Developer Hub 1.8

Orchestrator in Red Hat Developer Hub

Orchestrator enables serverless workflows for cloud migration, onboarding, and customization in Red Hat Developer Hub

Red Hat Customer Content Services

Abstract

As an administrator, you can use Orchestrator to enable serverless workflows in Red Hat Developer Hub to support cloud migration, developer onboarding, and custom workflows.

1. About Orchestrator in Red Hat Developer Hub

You can streamline and automate your work by using the Orchestrator in Red Hat Developer Hub. It enables you to:

  • Design, run, and monitor workflows to simplify multi-step processes across applications and services.
  • Standardize onboarding, migration, and integration workflows to reduce manual effort and improve consistency.
  • Extend RHDH with enterprise-grade Orchestration features to support collaboration and scalability.
Note

Orchestrator currently supports only Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (OpenShift Container Platform); it is not available on Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).

To start using Orchestrator in RHDH, you must:

  • Install the required infrastructure components, such as Red Hat OpenShift Serverless Operator, Knative Serving, Knative Eventing, and OpenShift Serverless Logic Operator
  • Configure your Backstage custom resource (CR) or Helm values file for Orchestrator
  • Import the Orchestrator software templates into the Red Hat Developer Hub catalog

1.1. Understand Orchestrator architecture

The Orchestrator architecture is composed of several components, each contributing to the running and management of workflows.

Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH)

Serves as the primary interface. It contains the following subcomponents:

Orchestrator frontend plugins
Provide the interface for users to run and monitor workflows within RHDH.
Orchestrator backend plugins
Get workflow data into Developer Hub.
Notifications plugins
Inform users about workflow events.
Sonataflow

The Sonataflow orchestrator and its subcomponents handle the workflows. The Red Hat Developer Hub Orchestrator and the Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart manage the following subcomponents lifecycle:

OpenShift Serverless Logic Operator
Manages the Sonataflow custom resource (CR), where each CR represents a deployed workflow.
Sonataflow Runtime/Workflow Application
Functions as a deployed workflow. Operates as an HTTP server, handling requests for running workflow instances. It is managed as a Kubernetes (K8s) deployment by the Openshift Serverless Logic Operator.
Data Index Service
Serves as a repository for workflow definitions, instances, and associated jobs. It exposes a GraphQL API used by the Orchestrator backend plugin to retrieve workflow definitions and instances.
Job Service
Orchestrates scheduled tasks for workflows.
OpenShift Serverless
Provides serverless capabilities essential for workflow communication. It employs Knative eventing to interface with the Data Index service and uses Knative functions to introduce more complex logic to workflows.
PostgreSQL Server
Provides a database solution essential for data persistence within the Orchestrator ecosystem. The system uses PostgreSQL Server for storing both Sonataflow information and Developer Hub data.
Keycloak
Provides authentication and security services within applications. Keycloak must be provisioned externally to manage authentication, as the Orchestrator Operator does not install it.
OpenShift AMQ Streams (Strimzi/Kafka)

Provides enhanced reliability of the eventing system. Eventing can work without Kafka by using direct HTTP calls, however, this approach is not reliable.

Optional: The current deployment iteration does not natively integrate or include the AMQ Streams Operator. However, you can add the Operator post-install for enhanced reliability if you require it.

1.2. Compatibility guide for Orchestrator

The following table lists the RHDH Orchestrator plugin versions and their compatible corresponding infrastructure versions.

Orchestrator plugin version

Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH) version

OpenShift version

OpenShift Serverless Logic (OSL) version

OpenShift Serverless version

Orchestrator 1.5

1.5

4.14 - 4.18

OSL 1.35

1.35

Orchestrator 1.6

1.6

4.14 - 4.18

OSL 1.36

1.36

Orchestrator 1.7 (RHDH 1.8)

1.8

4.16 - 4.19

OSL 1.36

1.36

Note

Orchestrator plugin supports the same OpenShift Container Platform versions as RHDH. See the Life Cycle page.

1.3. Orchestrator plugin dependencies for Operator installation

When you enable the Orchestrator plugin in your Backstage custom resource (CR), the Operator automatically provisions the following required dependencies:

  • A SonataflowPlatform CR
  • NetworkPolicies that allow traffic between infrastructure resources (Knative, Serverless Logic Operator), monitoring traffic, and intra-namespace traffic

The Orchestrator plugin requires these components to run. For example, to communicate with the SonataFlow platform, the Orchestrator plugin uses the sonataflow-platform-data-index-service, which is created by the SonataFlowPlatform CR.

Important

The SonataFlowPlatform CR contains Data Index service that requires PostgreSQL database as shown in the following example:

      persistence:
        postgresql:
          secretRef:
            name: backstage-psql-secret-{{backstage-name}}
            userKey: POSTGRES_USER
            passwordKey: POSTGRES_PASSWORD
          serviceRef:
            name: backstage-psql-{{backstage-name}} # # Namespace where the Backstage CR is created
            namespace: {{backstage-ns}} # Namespace where the Backstage (CR) is created
            databaseName: backstage_plugin_orchestrator

By default, the Orchestrator plugin dependencies use the following:

  • The PostgreSQL database named backstage_plugin_orchestrator created by Backstage
  • A Secret created by Backstage Operator for the PostgreSQL with POSTGRES_USER and POSTGRES_PASSWORD keys as the database credentials in the Backstage CR namespace.
  • A Service created by Backstage Operator for the PostgreSQL database with the name backstage-psql-{{backstage-name}} in the Backstage CR namespace.
Note

To enable the Backstage Operator to work with the SonataFlow platform, its ServiceAccount must have the appropriate permissions.

The Operator automatically creates the required Role and RoleBinding resource in profile/rhdh/plugin-rbac directory.

1.4. Enabling Orchestrator plugins components

To use the Orchestrator, enable the Orchestrator plugins for Red Hat Developer Hub, that are disabled by default:

Orchestrator frontend plugins
backstage-plugin-orchestrator
Provides the interface for users to run and monitor workflows within RHDH. You can run and track the execution status of processes.
backstage-plugin-orchestrator-form-widgets
Provides custom widgets for the workflow execution form, allowing you to customize input fields and streamline the process of launching workflows.
backstage-plugin-orchestrator-form
Provides the workflow execution form where you can define and submit the necessary input data required to start a new workflow instance.
backstage-plugin-orchestrator-form-api
Defines the API for extending the workflow execution form.
Orchestrator backend plugins
backstage-plugin-orchestrator-backend
Gets workflow data into Developer Hub making sure RHDH ingests critical workflow metadata and runtime status fulfilling your need for visibility.
backstage-plugin-orchestrator-common
Contains the backend OpenAPI specification along with autogenerated API documentation and client libraries.
scaffolder-backend-module-orchestrator
Provides callable actions from scaffolder templates, such as orchestrator:workflow:run or orchestrator:workflow:get_params.
Notification plugins
backstage-plugin-notifications
Provides notification frontend components that allow you to display immediate, visible alerts about key workflow state changes, allowing real-time status tracking.
backstage-plugin-signals
Provides notification frontend components user experience enhancements so you can process the real-time lifecycle events.
backstage-plugin-notifications-backend-dynamic
Provides notification backend components allowing you to manage and store the stream of workflow events, making sure that critical notifications are ready to be served to the front-end user interface.
backstage-plugin-signals-backend-dynamic
Provides the backend components for notification user experience enhancements allowing you to establish the necessary communication channels for the event-driven orchestration that is core to Serverless Workflows.

Prerequisites

  • When using the Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart, you have installed the necessary OpenShift Serverless Operators.

    Note

    When using the Red Hat Developer Hub Operator, the Operator installs the necessary OpenShift Serverless Operators automatically. For specific use cases, install the dependencies manually or use helper utilities.

  • (Optional) For managing the Orchestrator project, you have an instance of Argo CD or Red Hat OpenShift GitOps in the cluster. It is disabled by default.
  • (Optional) To use Tekton tasks and the build pipeline, you have an instance of Tekton or Red Hat OpenShift Pipelines in the cluster. These features are disabled by default.

Procedure

  • Locate your Developer Hub configuration and enable the Orchestrator plugins and the supporting notification plugins.

    plugins:
      - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator@1.8.0"
        disabled: false
      - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator-backend-dynamic@1.8.0"
        disabled: false
      - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-orchestrator-dynamic@1.8.0"
        disabled: false
      - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator-form-widgets@1.8.0"
        disabled: false
      - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator-common@1.8.0"
        disabled: false
      - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator-form@1.8.0"
        disabled: false
      - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator-form-api@1.8.0"
        disabled: false
      - package: "./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-notifications"
        disabled: false
      - package: "./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-signals"
        disabled: false
      - package: "./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-notifications-backend-dynamic"
        disabled: false
      - package: "./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-signals-backend-dynamic"
        disabled: false

1.4.1. Installing components using the Orchestrator Infrastructure for Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart

You can use Orchestrator Infrastructure for Red Hat Developer Hub to install components for the Orchestrator plugins.

Procedure

  1. Run the helm install command for the orchestrator-infra chart. This command initiates the installation of the Red Hat Serverless Operator and Red Hat Serverless Logic Operator components.
  2. Manually approve the install plans for the Operators. You must run the oc patch installplan commands provided in the output to approve their installation.
Important

By default, Orchestrator Infrastructure for Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart does not auto-approve the required Serverless Operators. You must manually approve the install plans.

1.4.2. Installing Orchestrator components manually on OpenShift Container Platform

Use manual installation when you want full control of the setup process and component versions. Manual installation method focuses on setting up the underlying infrastructure.

Procedure

  1. Install the OpenShift Serverless components manually by following the instructions in the Red Hat OpenShift Serverless documentation.
  2. You must also configure workflow persistence to prevent workflow context from being lost when the Pod restarts. You can do this configuration at the namespace level using the SonataFlowPlatform or SonataFlow custom resources (CR). For detailed instructions on configuring persistence using the SonataFlowPlatform or SonataFlow custom resources, see Managing workflow persistence.
  3. (Optional) If required, deploy a custom PostgreSQL database.

1.4.3. Installing components using the RHDH helper script

You can use the RHDH helper script plugin-infra.sh to quickly install the OpenShift Serverless infrastructure and Openshift Serverless Logic infrastructure required by the Orchestrator plugin.

Warning

Do not use plugin-infra.sh in production.

Procedure

  1. Download the plugin-infra.sh script as shown in the following example:

    curl -sSLO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/redhat-developer/rhdh-operator/refs/heads/release-${PRODUCT_VERSION}/config/profile/rhdh/plugin-infra/plugin-infra.sh # Specify the Red Hat Developer Hub version in the URL or use main
  2. Run the script:

    $ ./plugin-infra.sh

2. Build and deploy serverless workflows

To deploy a workflow and make it available in the Orchestrator plugin, follow these main steps:

  • Building workflow images
  • Generating workflow manifests
  • Deploying workflows to a cluster

This process moves the workflow from your local machine to deployment on a cluster.

2.1. Benefits of workflow images

While the OpenShift Serverless Logic Operator supports the building of workflows dynamically, this approach is primarily for experimentation. For production deployments, building images is the preferred method due to the following reasons:

  • Production readiness: Prebuilt images can be scanned, secured, and tested before going live.
  • GitOps compatibility: The Orchestrator relies on a central OpenShift Serverless Logic Operator instance to track workflows and their state. To use this tracking service, you must deploy workflows with the gitops profile, which expects a prebuilt image.
  • Testing and quality: Building an image gives you more control over the testing process.

2.1.1. Project structure overview

The project utilizes Quarkus project layout (Maven project structure). This structure is illustrated by the following 01_basic workflow example:

01_basic
├── pom.xml
├── README.md
└── src
    └── main
        ├── docker
        │   ├── Dockerfile.jvm
        │   ├── Dockerfile.legacy-jar
        │   ├── Dockerfile.native
        │   └── Dockerfile.native-micro
        └── resources
            ├── application.properties
            ├── basic.svg
            ├── basic.sw.yaml
            ├── schemas
            │   ├── basic__main-schema.json
            │   └── workflow-output-schema.json
            └── secret.properties

The main workflow resources are located under the src/main/resources/ directory.

The kn-workflow CLI generated this project structure. You can try generating the structure yourself by following the Getting Started guide. For more information on the Quarkus project, see Creating your first application.

2.1.2. Creating and running your serverless workflow project locally

The kn-workflow CLI is an essential tool that generates workflow manifests and project structures. To ensure successful development and immediate testing, begin developing a new serverless workflow locally by completing the following steps:

Procedure

  1. Use the kn-workflow CLI to create a new workflow project, which adheres to the Quarkus structure as shown in the following example:

    kn-workflow quarkus create --name <specify project name, for example ,00_new_project>
  2. Edit the workflow, add schema and specific files, and run it locally from project folder as shown in the following example:

    kn-workflow quarkus run
  3. Run the workflow locally using the kn-workflow run which pulls the following image:

    registry.redhat.io/openshift-serverless-1/logic-swf-devmode-rhel8:1.36.0
  4. For building the workflow image, the kn-workflow CLI pulls the following images:

    registry.redhat.io/openshift-serverless-1/logic-swf-builder-rhel8:1.36.0-8
    registry.access.redhat.com/ubi9/openjdk-17:1.21-2

2.2. Building workflow images locally

You can use the build script (build.sh) to build workflow images. You can run it either locally or inside a container. This section highlights how build workflow images locally.

Procedure

  1. Clone the project as shown in the following example:

    git clone git@github.com:rhdhorchestrator/orchestrator-demo.git
    cd orchestrator-demo
  2. Check the help menu of the script:

    ./scripts/build.sh --help
  3. Run the build.sh script, providing the required flags, for instance, the image path (-i), workflow source directory (-w), and manifests output directory (-m).

    Important

    You must specify the full target image path with a tag as shown in the following example:

    ./scripts/build.sh --image=quay.io/orchestrator/demo-basic:test -w 01_basic/ -m 01_basic/manifests

2.2.1. The build-sh script functionality and important flags

The build-sh script does the following tasks in order:

  • Generates workflow manifests using the kn-workflow CLI.
  • Builds the workflow image using podman or docker.
  • Optional: The script pushes the images to an image registry and deploys the workflow using kubectl.

You can review the script configuration options and see available flags and their functions by accessing the help menu:

./scripts/build.sh [flags]

The following flags are essential for running the script:

FlagDescription

-i, --image

Required: Full image path, for example, quay.io/orchestrator/demo:latest

-w, --workflow-directory

Workflow source directory (default is the current directory)

-m, --manifests-directory

Where to save generated manifests

--push

Push the image to the registry

--deploy

Deploy the workflow

-h, --help

Show the help message

Tip

The script also supports builder and runtime image overrides, namespace targeting, and persistence flags.

2.2.2. Environment variables supported by the build script

The build-sh script supports the following environment variables to customize the workflow build process without modifying the script itself:

QUARKUS_EXTENSIONS

The QUARKUS_EXTENSIONS variable specifies additional Quarkus extensions required by the workflow. This variable takes the format of a comma-separated list of fully qualified extension IDs as shown in the following example:

export QUARKUS_EXTENSIONS="io.quarkus:quarkus-smallrye-reactive-messaging-kafka"

Add Kafka messaging support or other integrations at build time.

MAVEN_ARGS_APPEND

The MAVEN_ARGS_APPEND variable appends additional arguments to the Maven build command. This variable takes the format of a string of Maven CLI arguments as shown in the following example:

export MAVEN_ARGS_APPEND="-DmaxYamlCodePoints=35000000"

Control build behavior. For example, set maxYamlCodePoints parameter that controls the maximum input size for YAML input files to 35000000 characters (~33MB in UTF-8).

2.2.3. Required tools

To run the build-sh script locally and manage the workflow lifecycle, you must install the following command-line tools:

ToolConceptual Purpose.

podman or docker

Container runtime required for building the workflow images.

kubectl

Kubernetes CLI.

yq

YAML processor.

jq

JSON processor.

curl, git, find, which

Shell utilities.

kn-workflow

CLI for generating workflow manifests.

2.2.4. Building the 01_basic workflow

To run the script from the root directory of the repository, you must use the -w flag to point to the workflow directory. Additionally, specify the output directory with the -m flag.

Prerequisites

  • You have specified the target image using a tag.

Procedure

  1. Run the following command:

    ./scripts/build.sh --image=quay.io/orchestrator/demo-basic:test -w 01_basic/ -m 01_basic/manifests

    This build command produces the following two artifacts:

    • A workflow image and Kubernetes manifests: quay.io/orchestrator/demo-basic:test and tagged as latest.
    • Kubernetes manifests under: 01_basic/manifests/
  2. Optional: You can add the --push flag to automatically push the image after building. Otherwise, pushing manually is mandatory before deploying.

2.3. Generated workflow manifests

The following example is an illustration of what is generated under the 01_basic/manifests:

01_basic/manifests
├── 00-secret_basic-secrets.yaml
├── 01-configmap_basic-props.yaml
├── 02-configmap_01-basic-resources-schemas.yaml
└── 03-sonataflow_basic.yaml
00-secret_basic-secrets.yaml
Contains secrets from 01_basic/src/main/resources/secret.properties. Values are not required at this stage as you can set them later after applying CRs or when using GitOps.

In OpenShift Serverless Logic v1.36, after updating a secret, you must manually restart the workflow Pod for changes to apply.

01-configmap_basic-props.yaml
Holds application properties from application.properties. Any change to this ConfigMap triggers an automatic Pod restart.
02-configmap_01-basic-resources-schemas.yaml

Contains JSON schemas from src/main/resources/schemas.

Note

You do not need to deploy certain configuration resources when using the GitOps profile.

03-sonataflow_basic.yaml

The SonataFlow custom resource (CR) that defines the workflow.

podTemplate:
  container:
    image: quay.io/orchestrator/demo-basic
    resources: {}
    envFrom:
      - secretRef:
          name: basic-secrets
persistence:
  postgresql:
    secretRef:
      name: sonataflow-psql-postgresql
      userKey: <your_postgres_username>
      passwordKey: <your_postgres_password>
    serviceRef:
      name: sonataflow-psql-postgresql
      port: 5432
      databaseName: sonataflow
      databaseSchema: basic

where:

postgresql:secretRef:name
Enter the Secret name for your deployment.
postgresql:secretRef:userKey
Enter the key for your deployment.
postgresql:secretRef:passwordKey
Enter the password for your deployment.
postgresql:serviceRef:name

Enter the Service name for your deployment.

If you must connect to an external database, replace serviceRef with jdbcUrl. See Managing workflow persistence.

By default, the script generates all the manifests without a namespace. You can specify a namespace to the script by using the --namespace flag if you know the target namespace in advance. Otherwise, you must provide the namespace when applying the manifests to the cluster. See Configuring workflow services.

2.4. Deploying workflows on a cluster

You can deploy the workflow on a cluster, since the image is pushed to the image registry and the deployment manifests are available.

Prerequisites

  • You have an OpenShift Container Platform cluster with the following versions of components installed:

  • You must apply the workflow manifests in a namespace that contains a SonataflowPlatform custom resource (CR), which manages the supporting services.

Procedure

  1. Use the kubectl create command specifying the target namespace to apply the Kubernetes manifests as shown in the following example:

    kubectl create -n <your_namespace> -f ./01_basic/manifests/.
  2. After deployment, monitor the status of the workflow pods as shown in the following example:

    kubectl get pods -n <your_namespace> -l app=basic

    The pod may initially appear in an Error state because of missing or incomplete configuration in the Secret or ConfigMap.

  3. Inspect the Pod logs as shown in the following example:

    oc logs -n <your_namespace> basic-f7c6ff455-vwl56

    The following code is an example of the output:

    SRCFG00040: The config property quarkus.openapi-generator.notifications.auth.BearerToken.bearer-token is defined as the empty String ("") which the following Converter considered to be null: io.smallrye.config.Converters$BuiltInConverter
    java.lang.RuntimeException: Failed to start quarkus
    ...
    Caused by: io.quarkus.runtime.configuration.ConfigurationException: Failed to read configuration properties

    The error indicates a missing property: quarkus.openapi-generator.notifications.auth.BearerToken.bearer-token.

  4. In such a case where the logs show the ConfigurationException: Failed to read configuration properties error or indicate a missing value, retrieve the ConfigMap as shown in the following example:

    oc get -n <your_namespace> configmaps basic-props -o yaml

    The following code is an example of the sample output:

    apiVersion: v1
    data:
      application.properties: |
        # Backstage notifications service
        quarkus.rest-client.notifications.url=${BACKSTAGE_NOTIFICATIONS_URL}
        quarkus.openapi-generator.notifications.auth.BearerToken.bearer-token=${NOTIFICATIONS_BEARER_TOKEN}
    ...

    Resolve the placeholders using values provided using a Secret.

  5. You must edit the corresponding Secret and provide appropriate base64-encoded values to resolve the placeholders in application.properties as shown in the following example:

    kubectl edit secrets -n <your_namespace> basic-secrets
  6. Restart the workflow Pod for Secret changes to take effect in OpenShift Serverless Logic v1.36.

Verification

  1. Verify the deployment status by checking the Pods again as shown in the following example:

    oc get pods -n <your_namespace> -l app=basic

    The expected status for a successfully deployed workflow Pod is as shown in the following example:

    NAME                    READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
    basic-f7c6ff455-grkxd   1/1     Running   0          47s
  2. Once the Pod is in the Running state, the workflow now appears in the Orchestrator plugin inside the Red Hat Developer Hub.

Next steps

  • Inspect the provided build script to extract the actual steps and implement them in your preferred CI/CD tool, for example, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, and Tekton.

3. Installing Red Hat Developer Hub with Orchestrator

To install Red Hat Developer Hub, use one of the following methods:

  • The Red Hat Developer Hub Operator
  • The Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart

3.1. Enabling the Orchestrator plugin using Operator

You can enable the Orchestrator plugin in RHDH by configuring dynamic plugins in your Backstage custom resource (CR).

Prerequisites

  • You have installed RHDH on OpenShift Container Platform.
  • You have access to edit or create ConfigMaps in the namespace where the Backstage CR is deployed.

Procedure

  1. To enable the Orchestrator plugin with default settings, set disabled: false for the package. For example, package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator@<plugin_version> is set to disabled: false:

    - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator@<plugin_version>"
      disabled: false

    Example: Complete configuration of the Orchestrator plugin

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: orchestrator-plugin
    data:
        dynamic-plugins.yaml: |
          includes:
            - dynamic-plugins.default.yaml
          plugins:
            - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator@1.7.1"
              disabled: false
              pluginConfig:
                dynamicPlugins:
                    frontend:
                      red-hat-developer-hub.backstage-plugin-orchestrator:
                        appIcons:
                          - importName: OrchestratorIcon
                            name: orchestratorIcon
                        dynamicRoutes:
                          - importName: OrchestratorPage
                            menuItem:
                              icon: orchestratorIcon
                              text: Orchestrator
                            path: /orchestrator
                        entityTabs:
                          - path: /workflows
                            title: Workflows
                            mountPoint: entity.page.workflows
                        mountPoints:
                          - mountPoint: entity.page.workflows/cards
                          importName: OrchestratorCatalogTab
                          config:
                            layout:
                              gridColumn: '1 / -1'
                              if:
                                anyOf:
                                  - IsOrchestratorCatalogTabAvailable
            - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator-backend-dynamic@1.7.1"
              disabled: false
              pluginConfig:
                orchestrator:
                  dataIndexService:
                    url: http://sonataflow-platform-data-index-service
              dependencies:
                - ref: sonataflow
            - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-orchestrator-dynamic@1.7.1"
              disabled: false
              pluginConfig:
                orchestrator:
                  dataIndexService:
                    url: http://sonataflow-platform-data-index-service
            - package: "@redhat/backstage-plugin-orchestrator-form-widgets@1.7.1"
              disabled: false
              pluginConfig:
                dynamicPlugins:
                  frontend:
                    red-hat-developer-hub.backstage-plugin-orchestrator-form-widgets: { }
    ---
    apiVersion: rhdh.redhat.com/v1alpha3
    kind: Backstage
    metadata:
      name: orchestrator
    spec:
      application:
        appConfig:
          configMaps:
            - name: app-config-rhdh
        dynamicPluginsConfigMapName: orchestrator-plugin

  2. Create a secret containing the BACKEND_SECRET value as shown in the following example:

    apiVersion: v1
    kind: ConfigMap
    metadata:
      name: app-config-rhdh
    data:
      app-config-rhdh.yaml: |-
        auth:
          environment: development
          providers:
            guest:
              # using the guest user to query the '/api/dynamic-plugins-info/loaded-plugins' endpoint.
              dangerouslyAllowOutsideDevelopment: true
        backend:
          auth:
            externalAccess:
              - type: static
                options:
                  token: ${BACKEND_SECRET}
                  subject: orchestrator
    ---
    apiVersion: v1
    kind: Secret
    metadata:
      name: backend-auth-secret
    stringData:
      # generated with the command below (from https://backstage.io/docs/auth/service-to-service-auth/#setup):
      # node -p 'require("crypto").randomBytes(24).toString("base64")'
      # notsecret
      BACKEND_SECRET: "R2FxRVNrcmwzYzhhN3l0V1VRcnQ3L1pLT09WaVhDNUEK"
  3. Configure your Backstage CR to update the secret name in the extraEnvs field as shown in the following example:

    apiVersion: rhdh.redhat.com/v1alpha4
    kind: Backstage
    metadata:
      name: orchestrator
    spec:
      application:
        appConfig:
          configMaps:
            - name: app-config-rhdh
        dynamicPluginsConfigMapName: orchestrator-plugin
        extraEnvs:
          secrets:
              # secret that contains the BACKEND_SECRET key
            - name: backend-auth-secret

Verification

  • In the RHDH console, confirm that the Orchestrator frontend and backend features are available.

3.2. Installing Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH) on OpenShift Container Platform with the Orchestrator using the Helm CLI

You can install Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH) on OpenShift Container Platform with the Orchestrator by using the Helm CLI. The installation automatically enables the required dynamic plugins and integrates workflow infrastructure.

Prerequisites

  • You are logged in as an administrator and have access to the Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart repository.
  • You can install the necessary infrastructures resources, such as SonataFlow, alongside RHDH in the same namespace.

    This is a one-off requirement and must be completed before enabling the Orchestrator plugin.

Procedure

  1. As an administrator, install relevant cluster-wide resources.

    helm repo add openshift-helm-charts https://charts.openshift.io/
    helm install <release_name> openshift-helm-charts/redhat-developer-hub-orchestrator-infra
    Important

    You must be an administrator to install the redhat-developer-hub-orchestrator-infra Helm chart because it deploys additional cluster-scoped OpenShift Serverless and OpenShift Serverless Logic Operators. As an administrator, you must manually approve the install plans for OpenShift Serverless and Serverless Logic Operators.

  2. Install the Backstage chart with the orchestrator enabled as shown in the following example:

    $ helm install <release_name> openshift-helm-charts/redhat-developer-hub --version 1.8.0 \
      --set orchestrator.enabled=true
  3. (Optional) Enable Notifications and Signals plugins by adding them to the global.dynamic.plugins list in your values.yaml file as shown in the following example:

    global:
      dynamic:
        plugins:
          - disabled: false
            package: "./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-notifications"
          - disabled: false
            package: "./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-signals"
          - disabled: false
            package: "./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-notifications-backend-dynamic"
          - disabled: false
            package: "./dynamic-plugins/dist/backstage-plugin-signals-backend-dynamic"
  4. (Optional) You can disable the Serverless Logic and Serverless Operators individually or together by setting their values to false, as shown in the following example:

    helm install <release_name> openshift-helm-charts/redhat-developer-hub \
      --version 1.8.0 \
      --set orchestrator.enabled=true \
      --set orchestrator.serverlessOperator=false \
      --set orchestrator.serverlessLogicOperator=false
  5. (Optional) If you are using an external database, add the following configuration under orchestrator.sonataflowPlatform in your values.yaml file:

    orchestrator:
      sonataflowPlatform:
        externalDBsecretRef: "<cred-secret>"
        externalDBName: "<database_name>" # The name of the user-configured existing database (Not the database that the orchestrator and sonataflow resources use).
        externalDBHost: "<database_host>"
        externalDBPort: "<database_port>"
    Note

    This step only configures the Orchestrators use of an external database. To configure Red Hat Developer Hub to use an external PostgreSQL instance, follow the steps in Configuring a PostgreSQL instance using Helm.

Verification

  1. Verify that the Orchestrator plugin is visible in the Red Hat Developer Hub UI.
  2. Create and run sample workflows to confirm the orchestration is functioning correctly.

3.3. Install Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH) using Helm from the OpenShift Container Platform web console

You can install Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH) with the Orchestrator by using the (OpenShift Container Platform) web console. This method is useful if you prefer a graphical interface or want to deploy cluster-wide resources without using the Helm CLI.

Prerequisites

  • You are logged in to the OpenShift Container Platform web console as an administrator.
  • You have access to the Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart repository.
  • Your cluster has internet access or the Helm charts are mirrored in a disconnected environment.

Procedure

  1. In the OpenShift Container Platform web console, go to the Helm Charts and verify that the Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart repository is available.
  2. Search for the Orchestrator infrastructure for Red Hat Developer Hub and select Install.

    Important

    You must be an administrator to install the Orchestrator Infrastructure for Red Hat Developer Hub Helm chart because it deploys cluster-scoped resources. As an administrator, you must manually approve the install plans for OpenShift Serverless and Serverless Logic Operators.

    As a regular user, search for the Red Hat Developer Hub chart and install it by setting the value of orchestrator.enabled to true. Otherwise, the Orchestrator will not be deployed.

  3. Wait until they are successfully deployed.
  4. Monitor the deployment status by navigating to Pods or releases.

Verification

After deployment completes:

  • The orchestrator-related pods are running in the selected namespace.
  • Cluster-wide resources are present.
  • You can start connecting the orchestrator to your Red Hat Developer Hub UI.

3.4. Resource limits for installing Red Hat Developer Hub with the Orchestrator plugin when using Helm

When installing Red Hat Developer Hub (RHDH) with the Orchestrator plugin using Helm, the chart defines default CPU and memory limits for the SonataFlowPlatform component.

These limits are enforced by the cluster so that pods do not exceed their allocated resources.

  1. Default resource limits
ResourceDefault value

CPU limits

500m

Memory limits

1Gi

  1. You can override these values in any of the following ways:

    • With values.yaml
    • With --set flags
  2. Override defaults with values.yaml as shown in the following example:

    orchestrator:
      enabled: true
      sonataflowPlatform:
      resources:
          limits:
            cpu: "500m"
            memory: "1Gi"
  3. Override with --set as shown in the following example:

    helm upgrade --install <release_name>  openshift-helm-charts/redhat-developer-hub \
      --set orchestrator.enabled=true \
      --set orchestrator.sonataflowPlatform.resources.requests.cpu=500m \
      --set orchestrator.sonataflowPlatform.resources.requests.memory=128Mi \
      --set orchestrator.sonataflowPlatform.resources.limits.cpu=1 \
      --set orchestrator.sonataflowPlatform.resources.limits.memory=2Gi
    Note

    The --set setting is applicable only when orchestrator.enabled is true. By default, it is set to false.

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